Rome, Sep 16 (DPA) Pope Benedict XVI was "deeply sorry" that his controversial remarks about Islam earlier this week may have caused offence, Vatican secretary of state Tarcisio Bertone said here Saturday as angry reactions continued to pour in from the Muslim world.
The pope had said he was "deeply sorry" that some passages in his speech "may have sounded offensive to the sensibility of Muslim believers," Bertone said in a statement.
The statement referred to a speech delivered by the pope last Tuesday during his visit to Germany, in which he quoted a 14th Century Christian emperor as referring to elements of the Muslim faith as "evil and inhuman".
Bertone's statement said: "Regarding the judgement by the Byzantine emperor Manuel II Paleologus, quoted by the pope in his speech in Regensburg, the Holy Father absolutely did not intend, nor does he intend, to make it his own."
Bertone said the pope merely referred to the 14th century speech "to discuss the relationship between religion and violence" and to make "a clear and radical rejection of religious motivations of violence, from whatever side they may come".
"The Holy Father is therefore deeply sorry that some of the passages of his speech may have sounded offensive to the sensibility of Muslim believers and that they were interpreted in a way that in no way corresponds to his intentions."
Earlier, the head of the Central Council of Muslims in Germany had warned the pope's remarks could trigger violent protests similar to those that erupted after the publication in some newspapers of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed earlier this year.
"He should apologise to Muslims. It's the best way to calm things down and clear up the matter," Ayyub Axel Koehler said in a newspaper interview.
The maelstrom of controversy over the pope's remarks came weeks before his planned visit to Turkey - his first to a Muslim country - in November.
Turkish foreign ministry sources were quoted by Hurriyet newspaper as saying Saturday that Benedict's remarks would in no way affect his visit to the secular state, although the ministry had asked the papal nuncio in Ankara for the text of the pope's remarks.
Earlier Saturday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speaking from Havana had called for an analysis of the pope's comments by theologians while the Iranian foreign ministry had called on the pope to revise his stance on Islam and violence to clear up any misunderstanding.
The Jordanian government Saturday described the pope's remarks as "extremely offending" and pointed to the "great achievements in the sphere of inter-faith dialogue" achieved by Benedict XVI's predecessor, Pope John Paul II.
Over the past two days, the pope's remarks were slammed by Pakistan's lower house of parliament in a resolution, by the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, by the Organisation of the Islamic Conference and by religious leaders in Iraq, Lebanon, India and other countries.
Two Christian churches in the Palestinian territories were also firebombed but no one was injured.
Muslim groups in European countries with large Muslim populations, including Britain and France, had also expressed their surprise and hurt at the pope's remarks.
In Regensburg, the pope quoted a conversation that took place in Ankara in the 14th century between Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Paleologus and an educated Persian on Christianity and Islam.
The Vatican on Thursday and Friday sought to stem the torrent of criticism, saying the pope "never intended to offend the sensibility of Muslim believers" and that he was keen to "cultivate an attitude of respect and dialogue toward other religions and cultures".
German Chancellor Angela Merkel defended the pope's remarks, saying the pope had been expressing "a decisive and uncompromising rejection of every form of violence carried out in the name of religion" and that the speech was an invitation to engage in inter-faith dialogue.